VENOM

The Luxe meets Edgar Allen Poe in late Renaissance Venice, when a wealthy girl stumbles upon a murder and gets swept up in a world of bohemian artists, grave robbers, crooks, and a very dangerous killer.

Fifteen-year-old Catarina lives with her wealthy but ailing aunt on the outskirts of Venice on the sandbar island of Lido. Cate grew up in the center of Venice on the main island of Rialto in a palazzo by the Grand Canal while her parents were alive, but since they died in a mysterious accident five years ago, she's been relegated to living almost as an outcast with her eccentric aunt who insists on living on the sandbar, where all that remains now are a few Catholic families and the ancient graveyard attached to the church and monastery right behind Cate's aunt's property. While her attractive young fiancé Luca is studying medicine in Southern France, Cate meets Falco, the poor apprentice to a famous local painter. When Cate stumbles upon a mystery a murdered courtesan hidden in the casket of a recently deceased contessa Falco is ready to help her get to the bottom of it. But when another body is found floating in a canal, and Falco starts getting threats against his life, Cate wonders if he is more involved than she imagined. Eventually, she discovers his secret; Falco and his friends make a living smuggling and selling cadavers to scientists and artists. And when Luca, Cate's betrothed, returns from school in France, Cate is torn between the safe guy she was meant to marry, and the criminal artist. VENOM is going to be huge. It's commercial, atmospheric, sexy and a total page turner. Historical YA is making a comeback it's The Luxe but smarter and set in Renaissance Europe and Philomel believes that VENOM will do for historical YA what The Hunger Games did for dystopian and what Twilight did for paranormal romance. Penguin doesn't have a big historical YA fiction line and they plan to sink a ton of marketing money and pull all the stops for the series. Fiona Paul resides in the Midwest but travels a lot since she can't breathe if she spends too much time away from the ocean. In addition to being a writer, she's also worked as a line cook, retail manager, veterinary assistant, medical recruiter, English teacher, and registered nurse. When she's not working, you can usually find her kayaking, reading, or helping turtles cross the road. Her future goals include diving with great white sharks and writing more novels, not necessarily in that order. Venom is her first novel.